Killed: Officer Alberto Covarrubias Jr, 29, was shot and killed in February as he resisted arrest

A 17-year-old girl who had a sexual relationship with a California police officer, killed as he resisted arrest over the affair, is suing his police force.

The teenager, known as Jane Doe in her lawsuit, claims officers within the Santa Maria Police Department knew the pair were dating but did nothing to stop it.

Her relationship with Albert Covarrubias Jr began while she was enrolled in a police 'Explorers' programme, for young people considering joining the force, the suit claims.

But the girl was under the age of consent, which is 18 in California unless the two people are within three years of each
other in age.

The suit goes on to claim that the programme is known to be 'plagued with inappropriate sexual misconduct'.

Ms Doe seeks unspecified damages from the city as well as from Covarrubias' estate and widow, Gloria, to whom he had been married just three weeks.

The newly weds had fallen in love and 'just clicked' Covarrubias' father, Alberto Covarrubias Sr, said, 13 months after his first wife
committed suicide during their divorce proceedings.

In the lawsuit Ms Doe describes the former officer as a predator who told her 'he would kill her boyfriend and her family' if she didn't sleep with him.

The affair came to light after Ms Doe confided in a 'mother figure' and a sting was set up to arrest Covarrubias, the LA Times reported.

In February fellow officers tried to arrest their colleague at the DUI checkpoint where he was stationed, having discovered an 'inappropriate' and 'very explicit' relationship had been going on.

But the 29-year-old pulled his gun and was shot dead by his own patrol partner, Officer Matt
Kline - the best man at his wedding just three weeks earlier.

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Wedding: Officer Covarrubias, centre left, married Gloria just three weeks before the fatal shooting, in the midst of the alleged affair. The couple are pictured here with his father, Albert Sr, right, and son's step-mother, Chela, left

A police expert told ABC News that Covarrubias' decision to draw his gun was essentially 'suicide
by cop' from a man who felt in the moment that the disgrace of being
sacked from the police force was too much for him to live with.

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It's unclear for how long Covarrubias
and the girl carried on a sexual relationship, but she confided to an
adult described as a 'mother figure' on Thursday – Covarrubias' birthday –
that the two 'were dating.'

The woman called police, two former officers who spoke to
police at the scene of the shooting said, and police decided to set up a sting to
arrest Covarrubias on sexual misconduct charges.

Family: Officer Albert Covarrubias Jr is flanked by his father, Albert Sr, and his step-mother, Chela, after he graduated from the police academy in 2008, left, and right a Albert Sr is hugged by a neighbour as he holds a photo of his late son

Before the DUI checkpoint started,
the lieutenant in charge was told that the Explorer Scout was going to
be called away to do a 'pretext call,' the name for set-up calls
designed to get suspects to confess with investigators listening in,
both retired officers said.

For reasons unknown, the commanding
officer told all of the officers at the checkpoint, including
Covarrubias, that the girl would be called away for an investigation,
they said.

The officers, who have more than six decades of experience between them, independently described what happened that night.

Covarrubias panicked when he heard
the commanding officer's announcement about the pretext call, the
officers said. He texted the girl, asking if she had spoken to
investigators.

Investigators proceeded with their
plan, sending the 'mother figure' to fetch the girl and tell her there
was a family emergency. Covarrubias saw the girl leave and became
frantic.

'As soon as she gets pulled out he
starts texting her again,' said one of the retired officers. 'He started
texting stuff like "I'm not going to jail" and "I'd rather kill myself"
and that type of stuff.'

In memory: Alberto Covarrubias Sr holds a photo of his son, who he claims was denied a police burial

Soon the girl called Covarrubias'
cell phone and, though he knew she was part of an investigation, he
acknowledged their sexual relationship, the former officers said. After
hanging up he sent a text saying that he hoped the call wasn't set up by
the department.

Sometime around 1am, two sergeants – one of them the officer's cousin – arrived to take Covarrubias into custody.

'What happened to procedure? Why did they go to arrest him in the field? If it was so urgent why didn't they just say there was a family emergency and he had to come to the station?'

- Alberto Covarrubias Sr

Covarrubias backed up and, according
to police, tried to draw his gun as the sergeants wrestled him to the
ground. Police at the scene told the retired officers that Covarrubias
fired four times, but not at anything or anyone.

Then, he pointed his pistol at his
best man, Officer Matt Kline, the retired officers said. Kline fired his
weapon, fatally wounding his friend.

Police have disclosed few details
about the Covarrubias case, leaving residents to wonder why police felt
compelled to make the arrest while the four-year veteran was on duty and
how it could have ended with a bullet in the officer's chest.

Covarrubias' family wants answers, too.

'What happened to procedure?' asked
his father. 'Why did they go to arrest him in
the field? If it was so urgent why didn't they just say there was a
family emergency and he had to come to the station?'

Chief Danny R Macagni did not respond
to repeated requests for an interview, nor did City Manager Rick Hayden
or City Attorney Gilbert Trujillo.

Memorial: A Santa Maria Police Department patrol car passes a memorial set up by mourners at the spot where Alberto Covarrubias Jr was shot and killed on January 28

At a news conference the day after
the shooting, neither Macagni nor his top deputies were wearing the
black bands across their badges that are customary after an officer is
killed.

'Events unfolded very rapidly,' he
said. 'It was very clear to the investigators that he knew what was
going to happen. I cannot divulge why we know that. The information that
we had we knew we could not let him get in the car and drive somewhere.

'But we did not expect him to react the way he did,' he added.

'My son was proud to be a cop. He was a good cop. Now they're dragging his name through the mud.'

- Alberto Covarrubias Sr

The department denied Covarrubias a police funeral, said his father, who then opted not to bury his son in the uniform he loved.

'What happened to the brotherhood?'
the father asked. 'This is all stewing inside of me. I should have my
son here, not be planning his funeral.'

Since the shooting, a memorial of candles and flowers has risen where Covarrubias was killed. The death of an officer on duty is rare, though the city came close last month when two were wounded by 'friendly fire' during a botched SWAT team raid.

'It doesn't make sense,' said Davinder Singh, who manages the 7-11 store 50yds from the memorial. 'It's not supposed to happen that way.'

Santa Maria, nestled between oak-studded hills and cooled by the Pacific ten miles away, is a mixture of 1950s California and the kind of stucco-clad, cookie-cutter development seen elsewhere. Over the years, Latinos have increasingly moved in to the city about 170 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

It's easy to see their influence – they now comprise 70 per cent of the city's 100,000 residents. A new Rite-Aid drug store sits around the corner from a Mexican herbal medicine shop, Clinica Naturista. And a throw-back hamburger stand on the main drag serves menudo, a Mexican stew, on weekends.

Scene: Officer Covarrubias was shot dead by fellow officers at 1am after they discovered he was allegedly having a sexual relationship with a minor

'No choice': Police chief Danny Macagni said officers had discovered information showing they needed to take their colleague off the streets 'immediately'

Killings are uncommon; the city averages
less than a half-dozen homicides a year, mostly gang-related. But the
recent spate of violence has some city officials worried.'We're in tough times trying to get business and people to settle here,' said Mike Cordero, a City Council member who served 30 years on the Santa Maria police force.

Covarrubias, a 2000 graduate of Santa Maria High School, always wanted to be a cop. His classmates said he was a funny and charming guy.

He once was heralded as employee of the month in the department of 105 for nabbing an ATM robber, his father said. Last fall, he was named to the motorcycle unit. 'My son was proud to be a cop,' he said. 'He was a good cop. Now they're dragging his name through the mud.'

Everyone has the same question: Why did police try to arrest Covarrubias while he was armed with his service pistol and aware of the investigation?

'I'm concerned about what's happening and it goes beyond the shooting of an officer. It reflects on the management of the police department,' said Toru Miyoshi, who formerly served on both the city council and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors.

'They could have waited for a more controlled situation. A DUI checkpoint does not just put the accused at risk but it puts the public at risk as well,' Miyoshi said.